


While the World Let Go

by Varia (Janie94)



Category: Bollywood Movies, Kalank (2019)
Genre: Brother/Brother Incest, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Grief/Mourning, Half-Sibling Incest, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Past Dev Chaudhry/Satya Chaudhry, Polyamory, Post-Canon, Romance, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-05
Updated: 2020-02-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:40:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22571137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Janie94/pseuds/Varia
Summary: Zafar, Roop and Dev manage to escape the riots in Husnabad and need to find their place in this new life - a life filled with loss, regrets but also... hope? With Roop torn between her love for Zafar and her new-found friendship with her husband Dev, the ties between the three of them are getting stronger and more complicated. But maybe Roop's happiness doesn't lie with either her eternal loveorher loyal friend - but with both of them?
Relationships: Dev Chaudhry/Roop, Dev Chaudhry/Roop/Zafar, Dev Chaudhry/Zafar, Roop/Zafar
Comments: 9
Kudos: 11





	While the World Let Go

**Author's Note:**

> It's been two and a half months since I have last written anything and I'm still not back in the flow but this idea has been in my head ever since I first saw the movie in the cinema last year. Rewatching the climax scene again and again (sometimes I wonder why I like to torture myself like this) has made me want to get this into written form.  
> This story picks up where the movie left us - so if you don't want to get spoiled for the movie, stop reading right now! - but it ignores Zafar's death, telling my personal headcanon of what would have happened if Zafar had managed to escape along with Roop and Dev.  
> Except for the climax and songs I haven't been able to watch the movie since that one time in the cinema, so please tell me if I got some of the locations or relationships wrong.
> 
> The title is a reference to the song "While the World Let Go" by A Rocket to the Moon which I was listening to while starting this story.

**While the World Let Go**

He turned his head away from the bright sunlight as he exited the train.

In front of him Dev let go of Roop’s hand after having helped her down onto the platform. The other man hadn’t looked at him the entire ride though it hadn’t felt as insulting as it probably should.

Dev had lost his home, his job and his entire life that he had built for himself in Husnabad. Now he was forced to start anew with Roop – just like Zafar was.

The Chaudhry heir seemed too lost and shaken to hold a grudge against Zafar, at least for the time-being. Zafar had no doubt that this would change soon enough – when Dev was capable of realizing the depth of his wife’s betrayal.

_Roop._

Zafar’s gaze shifted to her, watching her quietly. She had her back turned to him and was looking up at her husband, most likely hoping for some kind of guidance from him. She was probably used to Dev being in charge of the situation. He had led his family’s firm confidently and cdertainly been able to stand his ground even against his father in their house. But now after their whole lives had come crashing down, he was just as aimless as the other few hundreds of people that had boarded the train in a panic to escape the horrors of violence in Husnabad.

The Chaudhrys were a wealthy family – or at the least had been – and it was obvious that Dev was a stranger here, surrounded by misery and poverty.

The life Zafar had led.

Before he could think about it, Zafar stepped forward, drawing the attention of both Dev and Roop. “We need to find a place to stay a night or two. We can’t go searching for your father until we are officially registered.”

Dev just nodded before looking back down at Roop. Zafar didn’t know him beyond the things he had read in the newspapers and what his former friends had told him but he still could see that there were a thousand unspoken things in Dev’s eyes – so many things he was unable to say right now.

Zafar was just as surprised as Dev when he found his palm settling on the older one’s arm. “Later. First we need to get our feet back on the ground, then we can start patching up this mess.”

He wasn’t sure what reaction he had expected but certainly not the grateful nod. “Thank you.”

Zafar turned his head away and motioned for the couple to follow him. He could feel Roop’s gaze on him but he was unable to face it yet. There was so much they had to talk about but neither of them was ready for such a conversation – not the least since this time Dev had to be a part of it as well.

Until yesterday there had been two different Roops – in the house of the Chaudhrys she had been Dev’s quiet but compliant wife but in the streets of Heera Mandi she had been a young girl, eager to learn and free to love whomever she wanted.

And it was Zafar whom she had wanted.

He was used to seducing girls and getting everyone he wanted, leaving a trail of broken hearts in the process. But Roop had turned his world upside down. For so many years Zafar had lived a life full of hatred and contempt.

He had hated his mother for choosing Balraj Chaudhry over him and he had hated Chaudhry even more. So great was the hatred in his heart that he wasn’t entirely sure what actually hurt him the most:

That the man who was his father had never once cared about him, not even when he had just been a baby left in the streets to die.

That the man who was his father had left Bahaar Begum as soon as he had learned that she was pregnant .

Or that the man who was his father had engaged in this doomed affair at all, seducing a young and naïve girl even though he had already been married and their love had been nothing but a lie.

It was ironic that in his thirst for revenge Zafar had ended up doing exactly the same thing to Roop for which he had despised his father all his life.

His hatred for the man who had abandoned him and his mother had made him blind and cruel, something that Zafar had not yet forgiven himself for – if he ever could.

Roop had only been intended as means to an end and yet she had turned into the best thing that had ever happened to him. His entire life Zafar had wanted to be loved but refused to let anyone come close enough to do that. His fear of being abandoned again had caused him to push away both his mother and Lajjo who had fallen for a man who could never love her the way she deserved.

For many years Zafar’s heart had been a void of darkness, until Roop had come to shine her light to its darkest corners.

Only Allah knew how she could still be here after what he had done to her, how she could still love him so much. How she could refuse to abandon him whenit was all he had ever known.

Zafar had hesitated back at the station in Husnabad. Roop had been screaming for him, fear and panic evident in her voice as she had offered her hand to him, begging him to take it as the train was departing.

A part of Zafar had wanted to stay in the chaos and madness of destruction. Husnabad was his home and it felt fitting that his story would end where it had begun. His best friend Abdul had turned darkside, his mother Bahaar was presumably dead along with her girls - along with Lajjo.

Her death was probably the most painful to him.

Bahaar had refused to leave her girls and flee the city with them. Zafar had not been surprised by her decision but he had still hoped that he could save her. That maybe they could start anew and finally live a life together as mother and son.

But after Balraj Chaudhry had broken her heart and caused her to abandon her son, Bahaar Begum had built her life around her brothel and teaching her girls in the art of dance. There had never been any real hope of Bahaar leaving the burning streets of Heera Mandi.

Lajjo however had still been a young girl with her whole life waiting for her. Her eyes had always been filled with warmth and joy, something rather unusual for a woman in her profession. It had been her warmth that had drawn Zafar in. With Heera Mandi going up in flames and the rioting Muslims breaking into the brothel, there had been no chance of searching for Lajjo without being caught themselves. Yet Zafar wished so badly that they had been able to save her.

But she was almost certainly dead and though Zafar hadn’t been the one to kill her, this loss would never stop feeling like it was his fault. He had stoked the hatred in Abdul’s heart and now the girl who had fallen for Zafar was dead because of the hurt of an abandoned boy.

For a long time Zafar had thought only revenge could bring him peace. Instead revenge had ended up taking away the bit of joy he had still possessed. His mother and Lajjo were dead, his home destroyed and the girl he had fallen in love with was in the arms of another man. If he had been honest about his feelings, Roop would still be with him. She had married Dev before she loved Zafar but Zafar’s lies were what had driven her into her husband’s bed.

Blaming his mother or Balraj Chaudhry for that was pointless in the face of his betrayal.

This time Zafar deserved to end up all alone.

The thought made his throat tighten with grief and he stayed mostly quiet for the next hours it took until they had been given a large blanket and found an unoccupied corner to sleep for the night.

Zafar stayed quiet as he watched Dev spread the blanket over Roop before sitting down next to her with his knees drawn up to his chest. The blanket would have been large enough for both of them but it was obvious that Dev wanted to give Roop some time to get comfortable with him. They might be husband and wife but there was no love between them. And Dev didn’t want to impose his presence on the already shaken girl.

Roop seemed to understand Dev’s kind intentions after a moment, offering him a grateful but sad smile before she buried her face in the blanket, nestling closer to Dev’s hip. Zafar swallowed hard as he realized this was probably the moment they would have to part.

Tomorrow once Roop and Dev Chaudhry were registered in the city, they would go looking for their father. There had never been a place for Zafar in this family and he wasn’t foolish enough to believe that this would change.

Balraj Chaudhry had hated him for his mere existence even before he had found out about his daughter-in-law’s affair with Zafar. And surely Dev would be glad as well to see him gone.

There was so much Zafar wanted to say to both of them – to apologize for the hurt and grief he had caused them. But this wasn’t the time for words when neither Dev, Roop nor himself could truly appreciate them.

This was not the time of words but feelings. They all had too much to deal with right now. Maybe if Allah was merciful, they would see each other again and then Zafar could tell them what he was holding in his heart.

Slowly Zafar turned away from the couple, intending to leave quietly when suddenly Roop’s voice called after him. “Zafar, where are you going?”

He stopped in his tracks, his eyes downcast because he knew that he would be unable to leave if he saw the fear in her eyes again. The fear of being abandoned which he understood better than anyone else.

But then Dev’s words made his gaze snap up. “Come here, Zafar. Whatever you intend to do, it can certainly wait until tomorrow morning.”

Dev’s voice was kind but his eyes were piercing, conveying what he couldn’t say while Roop was listening.

He knew that Zafar had intended to leave them.

Carefully Zafar approached them, sitting down at Roop’s other side, her warmth soaking into his skin despite the blanket separating them.

As the minutes passed, the noises of the many people began to quiet down, exhaustion causing most of them to fall into an uneasy sleep. Beside him Roop’s breathing had evened out as well and after making sure that she was indeed asleep, Zafar dared to speak in a low voice.

“Why are you doing this? You can’t actually want me around.”

Dev took so long to reply that Zafar was starting to think he wouldn’t get any answer at all. “Roop loves you. She has already been through enough, I don’t want her to lose you too.” He opened his eyes and met Zafar’s gaze. “And you are my brother. We have only just found each other, I don’t want to lose you again so soon.” At Zafar’s astonished gaze he added quietly. “You are family, Zafar. Your place is with us.”

Zafar’s throat tightened with an emotion he didn’t dare name. “But your father…”

“ _Our_ father,” Dev intercepted, “will finally have to face his mistakes. You and I have a long way to go but I promise you, I won’t let Father shut you out of our lives again.”

It sounded too hopeful, a light too bright in the darkness that was Zafar’s life. But with Dev’s eyes daring to doubt him, Zafar found that he believed him.

For once Zafar didn’t rise to the challenge but relaxed against Roop’s side, closing his eyes to let sleep take him. “Thank you, Dev.”

The only answer he got was a warm hand settling on the back of his neck.

Or maybe he had just dreamed that part up…

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave comments and/or kudos - visible feedback is what keeps us authors going.


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